Too far
by Voyevoda3203
Summary: Faye and Spike are fighting as usual. But sometimes routine fights can go too far. *Chapter 5 up Fic complete!* Thanks for being patient and sorry for the plot twist thing. I wanted it to go in one direction, but it ended up as being about something else.
1. Too far

Disclaimer: I do not own CB or any of the characters. Don't sue me cuz I don't have any money at all. 

"What the hell were you thinking Faye?!" 

"I was just doing my job!" 

"Nobody told you to go after that bounty! He was mine to catch."

"Well if he is yours to catch, you should have caught him." 

"Well, I would have if you weren't so selfish and money hungry."

"Money hungry? Well, you're the one who is always taking away all the good bounties. Did it ever occur to you that there are two other bounty hunters living with you?" 

"Two other bounty hunters? As far as I'm concerned, there is one other bounty hunter here and that's Jet. Edward's even more useful than you. All you do is screw everything up. You're just so difficult to live with!" Spike Spiegel raised his hands in frustration. 

"Then just move out if you don't like it here with me!" Faye Valentine countered, her hands on her hips. "Go out and get a life. I'm tired of you eating all of our food anyways." 

This was just another day on the Bebop for the two who constantly fought day in and day out. What started this fight? Neither of them really knew. It started off as just a little playful teasing, but then things got heated and they both started bringing past things up. Things that weren't even important anymore. Like the bounty that Faye had greedily gone after even though Spike had said he was going to go after him. It happened over a month ago....

Spike turned to her, his anger rising higher than ever before. "Me get a life? Faye, you're the one who needs to get one. Oops, I forgot, you're dead to society. All those who were in your life before are already dead." Spike turned to leave. He had much more to do than fight with her all the time. Sure, he knew what he said was a little bit unnecessary, but he didn't really care at the time. 

Faye blinked for a second, then narrowed her eyes darkly. What he said did affect her, but she wasn't going to show it. She was going to get the last word no matter what...

"Yeah, well at least the life I have doesn't revolve around somebody who's already dead."

Her tone of voice reflected all the anger and spite she held for him at that moment. 

Spike stopped in his tracks and Faye could see that he stiffened up and he lowered his head a bit. His hands were clenching into balls until his whole body was shaking. Spike's back was rising and falling irregularly from shuddering breaths. Suddenly, he spun around, fire in his eyes, and marched towards her with long intimidating strides. He stopped when their noses were almost touching. "What the hell did you say," he growled at her, his eyes darker than she ever seen them before. Something in Faye told her not to make things worse, but she never really listened to those voices anyways. 

"You heard what I said, Spike," she said with a smirk on her face. As big as he was and as much as he may try to intimidate her, Faye wouldn't let him win. She said every word a little more slowly. "My life doesn't revolve around somebody who's already-"

Faye didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. Instead, she was answered with a neck-breaking slap across the face. She stumbled back for a second, a bit shocked, and touched her stinging face with her fingertips. She looked at her hand for a second, as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. 

The room grew quiet, save both of their ragged breathing.

"How dare you!" Faye finally yelled at him. She regained a bit of her composure, this time having it topped with even more anger. She was breathing hard and clenched her hand, balling it into a fist and closing her eyes. Without wasting another second, Faye brought her arm back and swung at him, hoping to make contact with his face. 

Spike, however, dodged her attack with the swiftest of blocks. "Come on, shrew woman," Spike taunted. "Hit me. Go ahead and do it." 

Faye swung again, this time with more momentum. Spike dodged it once more and she stumbled forward, caught off guard by his movements. Sure, he was a more skilled fighter and he had more advantages than her. But she knew one spot where he didn't....

Swiftly, Faye kicked out her leg, catching it in between Spikes legs. 

Groaning, Spike sank to the floor, breathing hard and glaring up at her. "You stupid whore," Spike grunted. Painfully and slowly, he lifted himself from the floor and towered over her, once again, trying to intimidate her. He stood there, a little off balance. 

Faye spun her body around, delivering a round the house kick which came in contact with Spike's face. She landed clean on the floor.

Spike stumbled back a few steps and lifted his hand to his mouth. He inspected his hand which had a little blood on it. "You-" he started. Instead of finishing with words, he charged at her, grabbed hold of her wrists. He pushed her until she was against the back wall, her head giving off a loud crack. 

Faye winced in pain, but concentrated on looking past the spots forming in front of her. She blinked a few times. "Get the hell off me!" Faye said. She struggled against his hands which pinned hers down at her sides, but to no avail. He was stronger than he looked. 

"Don't ever...EVER bring Julia up," Spike ordered her. "She is 10 times the woman you'll ever be." His grip on Faye tightened. 

Faye stopped struggling just enough to smirk and say, "Geez, you talk about her like she's still alive." 

Spike's eyes narrowed even further and he threw Faye to the ground. He towered over her and glared down at her. She wasn't shaking or trembling like he had hoped she'd be and it aggravated him that she wasn't cowering away like she usually does. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it upon looking at her. She truly did look pathetic at that time. Her hair was such a mess and the place where he hit her was bruising slightly. He almost felt sorry for her. 

Almost. 

Instead of saying anything like Faye had expected, Spike just turned around and walked to his room, slamming the door loudly. She shivered for the first time since they were fighting. Not because he hit her or because she felt scared. When she was staring up at him waiting for his next remark, his eyes were so cold. They showed no feeling or no compassion. Just pure hatred. 

Faye lowered her head a bit and she could feel a wave of nausea come over her. 

"Is Faye-Faye ok?" a small voice asked, coming out of the shadows for the first time. Ed was standing there, holding onto her tomato so tightly that red juice began to run down her hands. Her face was stark white, losing her usual rosy glow. 

Faye's head snapped up. "Ed? You saw all that?" she asked.

The small girl just nodded. 

Faye sighed and sat up. "Just forget everything you saw, ok? Spike and I, we were just-" Faye stopped when she saw tears forming in Ed's eyes. Never in her entire life on the Bebop had she seen Edward cry. 

"Just forget it," Faye repeated, standing up. She walked slowly to her room, pausing for a second as she passed Spike's. She could hear faint footsteps from inside. Then there was a pause. 

"I know you're there, Faye," came his voice, muffled by the door. 

Faye wasn't even embarrassed for being caught by his door. She stared at it for a second more then continued on walking to her room. She closed the door quietly and laid down at her bed, feeling something build up inside of her. It was tightening in her chest, then it started to close in around her throat until she couldn't hold it in anymore. As quietly as she could, Faye let out a sob, trying desperately to keep quiet. She did not want Spike to hear her cry. If he did, he would know that he won and he had gotten under her skin. Turning over, Faye cried some more into her pillow, letting her tears stain the same pillow that she cried into night after night, praying and hoping that Spike would try to love her. She had even thought that he did love her until tonight. Even though she's heard each and everything he said to her before, it still hurt because his tone of voice really set her straight this time. This time, she was sure that he didn't have any feelings towards her. 

***

"Damn," Spike muttered about an hour after his and Faye's encounter. He had been laying in his bed thinking about her the whole time. Regretting some of the things he said, but most of all regretting that he had hit her. He has never hit a woman in his life, but for some reason Faye could just get to him like that. Especially when she talked about Julia that way. 

Spike walked past Faye's room twice in that hour. At first he could hear her sobbing a bit. She was talking to herself even. He couldn't believe that he actually broke her. The second time he walked past her room, he knocked lightly, but got no response. He turned the handle a bit but her room was locked as usual. He had put his ear against the door and he could hear her breathing softly, but somewhat irregularly. As if she cried herself to sleep.

"Oh well," Spike muttered, placing an arm over his eyes to block out the light from his room. "She got what was coming to her." 

Spike laid quietly in his room. He could hear everything that went on around the Bebop. The snipping of Jet's shears trimming his Bonsais and even the faint clicking of Ed typing away on her laptop. Though Faye's room was next to his, strangely, he couldn't even hear her breathing anymore. Spike groaned, angry that he wasn't able to sleep. Images of Faye kept popping in his head. None of them very pleasant. They were haunting his conscience.

Groaning once more, Spike pulled himself off of his bed, walking slowly towards his door. He needed to settle things with Faye. Not really make things totally better with her, but to just let her know where she stood with him. 

Spike stood outside of Faye's door for a few seconds, contemplating on whether or not he should talk to her this early or if he should wait a day or two. _Do it now before you chicken out,_ Spike's conscience told himself. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself. He knocked on Faye's door a bit loudly in case she was sleeping. He waited a few seconds for her response. There was none, much like he had expected. 

He knocked again, this time a little more loudly. "Faye," he said. "I need to talk to you now." 

There still wasn't a response. 

"Faye," he said knocking once again, growing very annoyed. "I'm tired of playing these games. Just open the door in the next 5 seconds or I'll break it down."

It was silent for a second, then he could hear Faye's faint voice. "What do you want, Spike?" Her voice sounded sleepy and weak. It struck him strange. 

"Open up so I can talk to you." 

It was quiet again. "Can't we just talk later?"

"I need to talk to you now," Spike said. "I-I need to clear my conscience." 

"Spike, I'd love for you to clear your conscience, but just not right now. Please talk to me later?" Her voice sounded like she was pleading with him. He has never heard her plead with him before. 

He didn't say another word. Instead, he backed away from her door and ran at it, his feet flying through the air. The door came down without any trouble. 

Spike looked at her bed, expecting to see her lying there in surprise. Instead he just saw a mess of sheets. 

"Get out of here, Spike!" Faye's voice yelled at him. He looked towards her bathroom. The door was closed. 

"Faye, come out of here," Spike ordered. 

There wasn't a response. 

Fuming to himself, Spike strode over to the door and turned the knob. Instead of being locked as he had intended it to be, it opened easily. Spike peered into the bathroom and saw her sitting down at the toilet, her back to him. Spike blushed for a second and was ready to leave, having thought that he caught her while she was using the can, but then he realized that she wasn't. She was hunched over something. 

Faye looked back at the door, feeling another persons presence. "I said get out of here!" she yelled, seeing Spike peering at her with a confused expression on his face. 

She stood up weakly and tried to slam the door before he could get inside. Spike studied her. Her face was pale (save the small bruise that formed across her cheek from his slap)....almost white as her bed sheets and her eyes were losing their bright emerald green glow. Now they were dull and lifeless. And her body began to sway a little as if she were drunk. 

"What's wrong, Faye?" Spike demanded. He pushed against the door and her small frame. 

As weak as she already was, Faye gave up and let the door go, watching as Spike stumbled in. "Nothing's wrong," she said. "Happy now?" She leaned against the bathroom door, her hand propping her up. 

Spike glanced at her hand and noticed that the sleeves of her red jacket that she usually wore were down. She usually had them scrunched up at the elbows. 

Faye watched his eyes as they trailed to her sleeves. She immediately removed her hand from the door and pushed past Spike to her room. He chased after her and grabbed her wrist. 

"Spike, no," Faye said. "Leave me alone. I think you caused enough damage for one day."

Spike ignored her comment and brought her wrist up to his face. Her bedroom light was off so it made everything hard for him to see. The room grew quiet except for Faye's shallow breathing. 

Spike lifted up her sleeves to come face to face with a deep red gash across her wrist. Spike's eyes went wide. 

He grabbed her other wrist and did the same. It was red and bloody too. 

"Damn you, Faye. What the hell is your problem?" He asked. He led her to the bathroom and opened her medicine cabinet. He found a bottle of peroxide and placed her arm above the sink, pouring the liquid over her wounds. She didn't say anything as he cleaned her cuts. 

"Spike," Faye muttered as she sank to her knees, darkness slowly closing in. 

"Faye, just shut up for right now," he said. 

"I-I-..." 

Spike looked at Faye as she brought her face close to his ear. 

"I hate you." Then she blacked out. 

A.N. Hey, hey, hey. This is my second Bebop fic. Well...technically it's not really my second since I haven't finished my first one, but you get the drift. I'm going to try and actually finish this one because I am known to usually not finish my past stories and leave them hanging right when it's getting good. Hey, if you're reading this, please leave a review because I need to know if people are actually reading this fic so I can judge to finish it or not. I hate to finish a fic and have nobody read it. I want at least 10 reviews before I post my second chapter. Well, I'll still probably post it even if I get just a few. Oh yeah, and this is sort of set after the last episode. Spike is alive, but Julia's dead and Ed's still at the Bebop. Just thought you should know that. 


	2. Comforting Words

Chapter 2

"What the hell was she thinking?" Jet asked Spike while they were sitting over the kitchen table. The two were talking over the events that happened yesterday. 

"I don't know," Spike said slowly as he shook his head even though he knew very well why she tried to kill herself. "That lady is just a bunch of problems for us." 

Edward glanced up from her laptop. She recalled the fighting between Faye and Spike. She grew to be even a little afraid of Spike. After he hit Faye, Ed was scared that she was going to be next. "I know why she did it!" Ed spoke up. 

The two glanced over at Edward, almost forgetting that she was sitting down on the floor with her laptop. 

"And why's that?" Jet asked. 

Spike looked curiously over at Ed.

"Faye-Faye and Spike person got into a hitting match yesterday. Spike person make Faye-Faye cry and go to her room. Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to hit girls?" Ed asked angrily. 

Jet's eyes widened and he looked at Spike angrily. "You-you hit _Faye_?" Jet asked both surprised and angry at the same time. Sure, he knew that Faye was a lot to handle and she got under everyone's skin all the time, but that's no excuse to actually hit her...

"I-" Spike started, looking at Jet ashamed. He knew he was wrong by hitting her, but she was just so damned stubborn and annoying at times! 

Jet didn't say anything. Instead, he got up and walked over to Faye's room, knocking lightly. 

"Faye, can I come and talk to you?" Jet asked. 

There was a muffled response from inside and Jet disappeared into her room. 

Spike looked at Ed and scowled. "So you saw all that yesterday, right?" 

Ed stared at him wide-eyed. She nodded slowly. 

Spike sighed and took out a cigarette. "Sorry you had to see it. I don't know what came over me, Edward. I-that's the first time that Faye ever made me lose control of myself." He patted his pockets, looking for his lighter, but found none. 

"Here," Ed said as she snatched one up from next to her. She threw it at him and left. 

Spike watched Ed leave and shrugged. _What's with her?_ he thought. _It couldn't have affected her that bad..._

Spike sucked on his cigarette a for a little bit and began to daydream about Julia. His beloved Julia. Then Faye's voice echoed in his head _"At least the life that I have doesn't revolve around somebody who's dead."_

Spike sighed angrily and threw out his cigarette. He didn't crave it anymore. 

***

Jet opened the door and walked into Faye's room. He looked at her fragile body and frowned. She was laying on her back with the covers pulled up tightly to her chin. Her bandaged arm was hanging over the side of the bed, swaying a bit. She pulled it under the cover with the rest of her body when Jet came in as if to try and hide what she did. 

Jet walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. "How you feelin, Faye?" He asked her light-heartedly. 

Faye shrugged in response. "I don't see why I have to be laying down all the time. I want to get up and walk around."

Jet shook his head. "The doctor said no. You lost too much blood. I can't believe that you stayed in the bathroom for more than 10 minutes with slit wrists. It's a miracle that Spike found you when he did." 

Faye scoffed and closed her eyes. "Yeah, well miracles aren't really my thing," she replied. She laid her head back on her pillow. 

Jet scratched the back of his head. "Well, Faye, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." He looked at her, expecting some kind of response for him to continue. She just opened her eyes and stared at him blankly. He continued. "Well, Ed told me something that I was wondering if it was true." He paused a bit to look at Faye's face. There was a slight bruise under her left eye. At first, it gad struck Jet odd that she had a bruise there when she had only tried to slit her wrists. But it all came together when Ed said Spike hit her. 

Faye saw Jet looking at her eye and groaned. "It's about me and Spike, right?" 

Jet nodded. 

"I'm guessing Ed told you then?" Faye wondered. 

Another nod. "Care to tell me what happened?" 

"Nothing really," Faye said. "It had just started out like every other fight. We start teasing each other, then it just gets out of hand. One of us will go too far and end up getting hurt in more ways than one."

"That's still no reason to hit somebody," Jet said. "I thought he knew better than that." 

Faye didn't say anything. She didn't feel as much spite against him as she felt before, but she still did resent him and she pitied him in many ways. Partly because he can't let go of the past and see what's standing right there in front of him.

"Do you want me to make him leave?" Jet asked suddenly. 

Faye looked over at Jet, a bit astonished. Boy, he really did surprise her in many ways. As much resentment she felt for Spike right now, she couldn't make him leave. 

"No," Faye replied simply. Sure, deep down inside, she wanted to see Spike fail. To see him mess up and have to pay for it. But as much as she wanted that, she just couldn't ruin his life like that. By all means her decision was considerate, but she knew how it felt to be alone all the time and have a place where she didn't belong. She didn't want that on anybody...despite her feelings towards them. 

Jet stood up and groaned. "Alrighty then. I'll be in the hanger working if you need me," he said. He slowly walked out, leaving the door slightly ajar. 

Faye sighed and glared at the door which had been left open. She was just about to stand up and close it when somebody else walked in. 

"Can Edward talk to Faye-Faye?" the lanky little girl asked. She stood in the light of the hallway, sending small shadows every which way. 

Faye sighed. "Sure. Come on in." 

Ed opened the door enough so she could get through and closed it all the way, knowing that Faye hated it when people left her door open. She walked over to the seat Jet had sat in, holding her tomato to her chest.

"What do you want to talk about?" Faye asked her. It wasn't very often that Ed wanted to have a serious conversation. 

"Well, I just wanted to know if Faye was mad at me because I told Jet about you and Spike-person."

"No, not at all," Faye responded. "You didn't do anything wrong. I...it was mine and Spike's fault. We shouldn't fight all the time and I'm sorry that things went a little too far." 

Ed nodded. "Well, I also wanted to say that Ed's starting to be afraid of Spike-person now...every time I look at him, I can see him hitting my Faye-Faye." 

This really astonished Faye now...Edward, afraid of Spike? She never thought she'd see the day that would happen. "Edward, Spike won't hit you. He would never hit a child as sick as you may think he can be. Deep down, he understood what he did was wrong. That lunkhead won't do anything to you. I won't let it happen." 

Edward nodded and smiled as if the conversation wasn't even serious anymore. "Ok, Faye-Faye," she chirped, leaping from her chair. "Ed's gonna hack into something now. Go to sleep, Faye-Faye."

"Alright," she responded, finding that a little sleep didn't sound so bad. "And Ed, please stop calling me Faye-Faye!"

Ed ran across Faye's room and closed the door shut, ignoring Faye for a second. Then the door opened oce again and her head peeked through. "Ok, Faye." 

Faye stared at the door for a second, then she rolled over, covered herself with the blankets until they were over her head. Before she closed her eyes though, she couldn't help but notice Ed's tomato sitting on her lamp stand. 

Faye smiled inwardly to herself and closed her eyes peacefully. 

***

"Hey, Spike, you gonna help me out on this new bounty or what?" Jet asked the next morning. They were both sitting in the hanger, silently aware of each others presence, but not acknowledging it. 

"You mean now?" Spike wondered. "What about-"

"She'll be fine," Jet said. "Edward developed a new security system that can detect any little thing. Besides, Ed's going to be with her until we get back."

Spike threw his small cigarette butt on the floor. "That's exactly what I'm worried about," he muttered under his breath. He sighed and followed Jet to Faye's Red Tail. He guessed he was going to take it for the time being. 

"Hey Jet," Spike asked as Jet boarded her ship. "If Faye said yes about kicking me out, would you have really done it?"

Jet didn't say anything. He didn't need to. The look on his face said it all. 

"Right," Spike muttered, walking towards his Swordfish. 

The two took off into space, moving at the speed of sound. Stars and meteorites flew past the two, each skillfully dodging anything that came in their way. 

"Jet," Spike called over the intercom. He waited for Jet's response. 

"Yeah?" he replied. 

"Just who are we trying to catch?" 

There was a pause as Jet shuffled through the papers Ed had printed out for him. "Uhh...his name is Santo Cortez. He's forty two years old, about 6'5, black hair, and has been wanted for 87 counts of kidnapping, each of the cases ending up with the child dead. He's only goes after small kids around the ages of nine to thirteen. He's got a 3 million bounty on him and he was last seen on Earth...that's our stop."

Spike scoffed. "Earth?" he asked. "They're not so tough." 

"If Faye heard you say that, she would have kicked your ass," Jet said, chuckling lightly. 

Spike returned the chuckle, but only half heartedly. He really wasn't in the mood to bring Faye up. 

"Ok, let's go find Santo," Jet said. 

***

"Faye! Jet and Spike-person went out to catch a bounty!" Edward was seemingly happier now more than before. Faye guessed that her little talk with her actually helped. 

"They went to what?!" Faye screeched. She sat up from her bed, tearing off the covers. She bolted up to the hanger to see her ship was gone. "I want to go bounty hunting too!" Faye whined. She leaned over a railing, breathing hard. It wasn't really the fact that they left to go hunt, it was the fact that they didn't tell her and they left her here with Edward. As much as they had been bonding for the past few days, Faye needed to get out somehow. 

"Jet told Edward to make sure that Faye didn't get out of bed!" Ed protested as she had chased after Faye. She pulled on Faye's arm. "You have to lay down now!"

"I'm fine, Edward," Faye said. "The doctor told me just to stay in bed for a day and I'll be good after that. It's been a day. I'm as healthy as a lung in the smoking area in a restaurant."

Ed just looked at Faye trying to decide if that was good or bad.

Faye closed her eyes and began to think. Then she looked up with a smile on her face. "I have an idea, Ed. You want to go and see if we can catch a bounty of our own?"

"Bounty, bounty, bounty!" Edward screamed happily as she ran through the Bebop. She did a few cartwheels, her body seemingly having no vertebrae.

"Ok, Ed. Now tell me all about this bounty Jet and Spike are going after..."

***

A few hours had past and Faye and Ed were set on a course for Earth. Faye happily agreed to go when Ed told her where the bounty had last been seen. She didn't know why, but she still held some type of sentimentality towards her home planet, though she had been living on the Bebop for a long time. She had hoped in the back of her mind that she could go back one day...permanently.

"Who am I kidding?" Faye muttered to herself as she piloted the Bebop. "You can't stay in more than one place for over a year..." _Well, what about the Bebop?_ a voice in her mind said. _You've been here a long time. Is it possible that something, or someone, is holding you back?_

Once again, Faye scoffed. "I hate it when you do that," she said, regarding her conscience.

"Earth is just a few minutes away!" Ed chirped, her signature goggles pulled over her eyes. 

Faye glanced out the window to be greeted with Earth. She didn't remember how the old earth looked, but this one looked horrible. There was once a time where there were seven continents, but now the land was just scattered over the blue green sea. It looked so unwelcoming, so cold. Yet Faye still loved it. her planet basically told her story....she was scattered and pulled apart though at one time she was one. And now she's unwelcoming and, sometimes even cold. 

"Ed, who are we trying to catch here?" she wondered out loud. 

"A bad man named Santo Cortez. He steals kids then kills them. 87 so fa-aaaar," Ed sang. She tossed her tomato from hand to hand, catching it gracefully. 

"Well, how much is on this guy?"

"3 million woo longs," Ed sang. "3 million, 3 million, 3 million."

"3 million? That's nothing compared to the bounties we've caught before. Oh well, Santo Cortez, here we come."

"Here we come, here we come to catch you, catch you, Santo-Santo!"

***

__

"Yeah, that's right. Come after me. See if you can try to catch me. But your search will be short lived. I'll be the one to catch you."

A.N.: Ok, this is the second chapter. It's kind of boring if you ask me, but it'll get more exciting the next chapter. I promise. Anyways, thanks for the reviews! Love you guys! And thanks for the ideas you gave me! 


	3. Santo Cortez, I presume?

Disclaimer: I don't own CB or any of the characters so take your lawsuits and shove em!

"Hey, can you tell me if you've heard of a man named Santo Cortez in these parts?" Jet asked a bartender. The two had been on earth for 2 hours and every place they visited, they had no luck. Either people were too scared to talk or they didn't know anything at all. 

The buff looking bartender wiped a glass down and placed it upside down on a rack. "What's it to ya?" he asked. Translation: How much you gonna pay?

Jet sighed and opened his mouth to reply. But before he could, Spike leaned over the counter and grabbed the guy by his collar. "You're going to tell us if you heard of Santo Cortez and you're going to tell us in the next three seconds or else the both of us are going to tear your arms off and start beating you over the head with them." Spike's cigarette bobbed against the mans nose, burning him slightly. 

The man widened his eyes. "Yeah-sure."

Spike let go of the mans collar, but stayed just as close. 

"Everybody around these parts heard of Santo. He comes here once in a while to grab a drink or just to scope out small girls."

"Where's he at now?" Jet asked, growing a bit impatient. Sure, the information he was giving them was important, but he needed addresses, names, something.

"The last I heard, he left earth. He likes to float into space, letting any planet's gravitational pull take him to his next victim. He's most likely floating up there right now with another girl in his blood stained hands." The man stopped.

Spike and Jet waited to hear more, but he didn't say anything. 

"That's all you know?!" Spike asked. "You have to know more." 

The bartender shook his head. "That's all that he reveals about himself. If anybody...ANYBODY tries to talk to him while he's in the bar, he'll threaten to kill their kid next...or their sister."

"That's just great," Spike muttered. He turned around and left the bar, Jet following him. 

"Where are you going?" Jet asked. "He was our lead!"

Spike shook his head. "That guy was probably lying dead in our faces, but it's the best that we have. I'm gonna go back to space to see if I can find him."

***

"Hey, Ed, did you hear that?" Faye asked the small girl. The Bebop was quiet for most of the trip, but Faye thought she heard something coming from the hanger. Spike and Jet couldn't be back yet...

"Nope, nope," Ed replied. She was too busy with her laptop to notice anything. "And if there was anything there, Faye, my new security device would have spotted it. Nothing can get past the great Edroni!"

"Ok, Ed," Faye said. Her bad feeling went away for a few seconds as they bound closer to earth. She was distracted by one of the monitors beeping, but then she heard it again. 

She looked back in the direction of the hanger. "Ed, did you hear it again?"

She just shook her head.

"I'll be back," Faye said slowly. "Make sure the Bebop doesn't go crashing into some asteroid or something." 

"Yep, yep," Ed said, still concentrating on her laptop. 

Slowly and quietly, Faye walked out of the cockpit. She knew that Ed's security system was probably top notch, but she couldn't risk being wrong. Besides, even she knew that geniuses made mistakes every once in a while. 

Holding her breath, she continued to the hanger until the tightening in her chest was too much to handle. She let it out with a big whoosh and took another deep breath, holding onto it. She couldn't hear Ed's typing anymore, making the whole Bebop go quiet. 

Faye stopped dead in her tracks when she heard something else. It came from her bedroom this time. She whipped her head around and stared in that direction. 

Then she heard another noise from the hanger. 

"It's probably just mice," she muttered to herself, trying to push any doubts she had away. It really didn't work though.

"Bedroom or hanger?" Faye asked herself. "Which one should I check out?" She stayed in her tracks, listening to where she heard the most noise. 

"The hanger," she decided to herself. The noise was getting more constant and more loud. When she was in the cockpit of the Bebop, it sounded somebody was knocking lightly on the metal walls. As she got closer though, it started to sound like somebody was hitting a pipe with a large wrench. There had to be somebody there. Mice did not make that much noise. 

By the time Faye reached the hanger, the noise had increased ten fold. She took a deep breath, pulled out her gun and walked into the large room where Jet fixed her Red Tail so many times. She was so familiar with the room, but it stuck fear into her now. It was pitch black. When she was in the room all the way and the door swooshed shut, the noise suddenly stopped. 

All she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears. 

Faye scanned the room the best as she could. Both the Swordfish and the Red Tail were gone, much to expectation, but what she didn't expect was to see another ship boarded. Somebody was definitely here. 

"Come out!" Faye screamed into the room, her voice echoing off the walls. She waited a few seconds and yelled again. "I know you're here. There's no point in hiding." 

A scurry of footsteps in the shadows made Faye point her gun that way and start firing wildly. She stopped for a second and listened more closely. 

Another scurry of footsteps. Faye's heart raced as she spun around, trying her best to keep her eye on the shadow. Then it happened. She lost the shadow. It disappeared behind Jet's work area and she didn't know where it was going next.

She squinted in the dark, desperately trying to find the shadow. 

__

Just go back and lock the door, Faye's mind told her. _He can't get out of the hanger if you just lock the door. _

Deciding that it was the safest thing to do, Faye turned around, but suddenly stopped. She stood face to face with a large man. He looked around 40 something years old and he had black hair.

"Santo Cortez, I presume?" Faye said shakily. She held up her gun and pointed it at his head while she took a step back. 

The man just laughed, staring at the gun as if it were a toy. He took a step towards her.

Without thinking, Faye pulled the trigger. 

.............................

Nothing happened. 

Santo just continued smiling. Then it disappeared as he snatched the gun from her hand with lighting speed. He kept his grip on Faye's wrist so she wouldn't go anywhere. 

He tisked at her. "Don't you women ever learn how to reload?" he asked, his voice deeply accented.

For the first time, Faye actually realized the immediate danger she was in. "Please, don't kill me," she whispered. 

Once again, the man just laughed. "What makes you think that it's you I want to kill?" He lifted Faye's gun as she tried to squirm away and brought it down on her head. 

***

"Faye, is that you?" Ed asked, glancing up from her laptop. She was so absorbed in it, that she forgot that Faye had left. 

She shrugged and continued typing some things in the computer. She was trying to locate Santo Cortez, but she wasn't having any luck so far. She was getting close though. He was definitely in or around the earths atmosphere. 

Ed stared blankly into the vibrant colored screen, almost hypnotized by it. Her mouth hung open as she waited for it to respond to her search command. After a few seconds, something popped up on her screen and she broke out of her trance. A satellite dish was beginning to track Santo as the door swooshed open behind her. She heard quiet footsteps approach her, but her eyes stayed glued to the screen, afraid that she would miss it.

"Faye! I'm tracking down Santo. I think we almost got him!" Another few seconds passed by and her laptop beeped, confirming that the search was successful. 

"He's located..." Ed stopped and furrowed her eye brows together. "....at the Bebop-Bebop?" she finished. Ed heard more footsteps behind her and spun around, hoping to see Faye. Instead she was staring straight into the face of Santo Cortez. The same face that she had been tracking down. 

"Ho, ho, ho Santa Cortez," Ed squeaked as he grabbed her, placing a damp napkin on her mouth. Ed struggled for a few seconds, but then her flailing punches subsided as she went limp in his arms.

Santo scowled. "I despise it when people say that," he muttered and ran to the hanger where his ship was waiting. He only had a few more minutes left..

***

"Is that the...Bebop?" Jet asked Spike as they flew back into orbit, both surprised to see the large ship floating in mid-space. 

Spike looked at it and sure enough, the name Bebop was written along the side of it. "I bet it was Faye," he replied. "You know she can't stay still for more than an hour."

They both continued on towards the Bebop, unaware of anything going on, when they saw the hanger open up. 

"Well, at least she opened the door for us," Jet said. He flew Faye's Red Tail to the ship, but stopped short as another ship bounded out. 

"What the-" Spike growled as the ship nearly missed him. "One of Faye's friends?" Spike wondered to Jet. They both ignored the ship and boarded onto the Bebop. The hanger, usually well lit, was strangely dark at the time. 

"I know I left that light on before I left," Jet said, scratching his head. "Oh well." He parked the ship and climbed out. Spike did the same. 

They both walked towards the hanger door, but Spike noticed something...it was totally quiet. Ed wasn't yelling and running around in circles, and Faye wasn't yelling at her like she usually does. 

"You hear that?" Spike asked. "Maybe the two of them are growing on each other now." 

Jet chuckled, but stopped short when he heard a groan. "Did you hear that?" 

Spike nodded and got into his fighting stance, making sure that every part of him was guarded. He walked slowly around the hanger, looking for what made the noise. 

All of a sudden, the groan turned more urgent and Spike spun around. To his surprise, Faye was sitting down on the ground, tape gagging her and her hands tied behind her back. Her hair was matted down with blood.

"Faye, what are you-" Spike started. He stopped suddenly though when he looked at her torso. Something was strapped to her body. That something had bright red numbers glowing and they were counting down. 

Faye's groans became more pleading as she glanced at the numbers. They were already on number 7.

"It's a damn bomb!" Jet yelled. He ran up to Faye and grabbed her body. He unwrapped the duct tape that bound her to the death device and ripped it off her. Spike ran to the hanger door and opened it just as Jet threw it out into space, with three seconds to spare. 

All three of them got down as the force of the blast shook the whole Bebop, rippling throughout space. As the aftershock of the blast subsided, Spike crawled over to Faye, who was breathing hard through the tape. She looked away from him, tears in her eyes. 

Spike didn't show her sympathy as he peeled the tape from her wrists and feet. He really didn't show her sympathy when he ripped the tape from her mouth with one quick pull. Faye winced but ignored the pain. 

"Ed!" she panted. "He took Ed!" 

A.N.: Hey, sorry this chapter is really short. It's about an hour and a half before school starts and I thought I better get started on the third chapter. All the events happening in it are kind of quick with no detail really, sorry about that too. I just had some kind of inspiration and I wanted to hurry and write it down before it left me and before I started school. I hope you like it and I'll get the next chapter coming up soon. Thanks for the idea of using the ho, ho, ho Santa thing, Blooknaburg!=)


	4. No Time to Waste

Disclaimer: I do not own CB or any of the characters. Don't sue me. Aight?

"What do you mean 'he' took Ed? Who the hell's 'he'?" Jet asked angrily. 

"Santo. Santo Cortez took Ed. I-I don't know how he got on the ship." Faye panted. 

A moment of silence passed through each of them as they thought of their little companion's fate. Santo Cortez was a dangerous man by all means. Especially for an inexperienced youngster to deal with. 87 before her in the same exact position were already dead because of him and most likely, Ed would end up the same way if they didn't do something fast.

"You mean to tell us that you let this dangerous man onto our ship, got Edward kidnapped, and almost got the Bebop blown to bits and pieces?" Spike spat out. "Geez, I think Ed should be babysitting you from now on since you've shown us that you can't do a decent job by yourself."

"Spike-" Faye muttered lowly. 

"And to think that you're actually older than all of us. I thought your maturity level would have at least been higher."

"Spike, don't-"Faye repeated, her anger rising even more. 

"Or at least your sense of responsibility. Geez, I wonder if the old Faye was the exact same way."

"Spike, I'm warning you." Faye clenched her hand into a ball, trying to control herself. This was no time to fight.

Spike ignored her and continued. "No, old habit die hard and this is habit's ancient."

"Spike!" Faye yelled. She brought her hand back and struck him across his face. His head whipped to the side slightly and he quieted down, stiffening as he took a deep breath. He was about to retaliate, but Jet stepped between the two. 

"That's enough!" he yelled, his voice echoing throughout the hanger. "Geez, is this how you fight everyday?" He wondered, completely astounded. He knew they fought a lot, but this was just ridiculous. He wondered how the two of them were even alive after having fights like this day in and day out. "Now, I don't want the two of you fighting...no, make that talking to each other...better yet, I don't want the two of you in the same _room_ with each other until we find Edward. Until that happens, Spike, you have your room to stay in and you can go in and out of the living room. Faye, you stay in your room and you can go in and out of the kitchen. But that's it. And I better not hear you two encounter each other in the bathroom or all hell's gonna break loose. Get it?"

Faye and Spike looked at Jet dumbfounded. "You're actually grounding us?" Faye asked. "We're adults. you can't do that!" 

Jet took a menacing step towards her, frowning. "I'll treat the two of you like adults when you two start acting like them."

He stared Faye down until she nodded meekly, turning her head away. 

Spike smirked at her, but Jet snapped his head towards him, giving Spike the same exact look. 

"Alrighty," Jet said once he knew Spike had gotten the idea. "Now we need to go find Ed. I'll be on her laptop tracking her and you two...." Jet looked at them and sighed. "...just don't kill each other."

***

"And you better stay in your rooms!" Jet's voice echoed through out the Bebop, carrying his voice down each hallway. 

Faye scoffed and slammed her door shut, walking over to her vanity and looking at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had a splitting headache. 

Spike did the same with his door, but slammed it even harder.

Faye heard his loud slam and, despite her need for peace and quiet, walked back over to her door, opening it wide, then swinging it shut loudly. The door resounded with a glass shattering crack. 

"Oh no you don't," Spike grinned. He opened his door until it couldn't open anymore and he slammed his door shut, making this into some kind of competition. 

The doors slamming could be heard from the living room where Jet sat and he groaned. "Stop it the two of you!" He bellowed through the Bebop. making sure that he was heard. 

There was one more slam, a little lighter than before, but after that, it was totally silent. 

"At least Ed acts more older than they do put together," Jet muttered as he logged onto her mainframe. "Too bad she's not here though."

A bright yellow smiley face with rosy cheeks came up on the computer screen. "Log in, Ed-Ed!" came the automated computer voice.

Jet sighed and began thinking of password possibilities. He typed in the most obvious "Tomato." 

"Access denied!" the computer voice chirped, the face turning from happy to angry. "You wouldn't happen to be a hacker looking to log into Ed-Ed's PC, now will you?"

Jet sighed once again and typed in "Ein."

"Access denied! You got to do better than that!" 

Jet tried other names and combinations...Faye, Faye-Faye, Spike, Spike-person, Bebop, Bebop-Bebop. Nothing worked. 

"Might as well give it a try," Jet muttered to himself as he typed in his name. He pressed enter and the computer paused for a second. Then the angry yellow face on the computer suddenly smiled brightly. "Welcome, Ed-Ed! So happy to see you again!" 

Jet chuckled to himself. "Well, whadda ya know?" he said. He typed in a Edward's name and pressed search on the computer.

It took a few moments, but hundreds of satellites throughout the universe began scanning for the small girl. Jet waited patiently for the result and took a second to listen carefully. He couldn't hear Faye and Spike anymore, so he figured it was a good thing...oh, he was horribly wrong.

***

"Damn, I left my cigarettes in the kitchen," Spike muttered to himself as he first pat himself down. "Can't sleep without a cigarette..."

Spike opened his door slowly and looked down the hall towards Faye's room. Her door was closed too and Spike took that as a good sign. He exited his room and walked briskly down the hallway towards the main living compartments of the Bebop. He saw Jet sitting down in their worn out couch, hunched over Ed's laptop. 

"Any luck?" Spike inquired, leaning against the doorframe. He took out a cigarette and let it hang from his mouth for a few seconds. 

Jet just shook his head and rubbed his head with his metal arm. "None yet really. It's searching for Ed right now, but I'm guessing that Ed has a trace blocker on her so she doesn't get tracked down by any other hackers. Her signal keeps coming up as 'uncertain.'" 

Spike just shrugged. "Well, why don't you track down Santo? I'm sure he doesn't have any trace blockers on him." 

Jet looked up at Spike, both amazed and embarrassed that he didn't think about that earlier. "Good idea," Jet muttered and he went to typing. 

"Alright, I'm gonna go take a shower like a good little boy," Spike said sarcastically. He turned and backed out the room, leaving Jet to his own work. 

As Spike began walking to the bathroom, he realized that he forgot his lighter. He grew annoyed that his trusty lighter wasn't in his jacket pocket like it usually is and he turned to walk back to the living area. 

Just before he turned to leave, however, he spotted something move out from the corner of his good eye. He spun around to be greeted by a dark shadow moving across to the bathroom. 

"Faye," Spike muttered, not knowing if he should hurry and get into the bathroom before she did or let her have it first. If he did the first option, he was sure to get it from both Faye and Jet. His child like side told him to take the bathroom. He didn't know why, but his child side always seemed to come out when it came to Faye. She always made him drop whatever he was doing just to make her life miserable. But then again, she made his life equally as miserable by getting under his skin all the time. He didn't like it one bit that she was the only person who could really bother him....well the second person. Vicious came first. 

Faye didn't seem to notice him as she walked sleepily to the bathroom. What she needed right now was a nice hot bath...with no interruptions. With the way things were going on the Bebop, she didn't know if it was possible anymore. 

She closed the door behind her and turned on the bathroom light, looking at herself in the mirror. She grimaced as her reflection showed herself exactly the way she felt at the time: like shit. Realizing that she forgot her shampoo, Faye opened the door and walked back to her room to retrieve a bottle.

__

This is my chance, Spike thought to himself mischievously. He tiptoed quietly down the hall and into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He locked it just as he heard Faye's small patter of footsteps. 

"What the-" he heard her mutter as she turned the handle. It didn't take her long to realize what he was doing to her. 

"Spike!" she yelled through the wood between them. "Get the hell out! I was using the bathroom first!" 

Spike didn't bother responding. Instead, he turned the hot water on full blast and got in the shower. He let the steamy water run through his hair, soaking it until it was matted down to his forehead, revealing it's true length. He sighed and grabbed the bar of soap, running it across his lean muscles, trying to block out Faye's attempts to get him out of the bathroom. She was really ruining this peaceful moment for him...

Spike's senses kicked in when Faye went quiet for a second. Then out of nowhere, there was a loud gun shot come from the other side of the door and before he knew it, the bathroom door was wide open. 

"Geez, Faye!" Spike yelled, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" He stepped out of the shower as Faye walked in, completely unaware of Spike's half-nakedness. 

"No," she replied. "If I wanted to I already would have done it by now. What I want is the bathroom to myself right now. You had no right to waltz right in when you knew I was going to use it."

"I don't see your name written anywhere in this bathroom," Spike argued back. "As a matter of fact, I don't remember seeing your name on anything on this ship. You're here because of common courtesy. As a charity. Nothing here really belongs to you, therefore Jet and I get access to everything first." 

Faye raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she stated. "Well, that towel is mine." She pointed down at Spike. "Give it back to me." 

He glanced down to his waist and gave a smirk. "You're just using this as an excuse to get into my pants," he replied. 

Faye gave him a fake smile. "In your dreams, Lunkhead," she said, tapping her index finger against her cheek, looking down at the towel once more. "Give it up now."

Spike glared at her, but only momentarily. "I have nothing to be ashamed of," he replied as he ripped the towel off of his waist, revealing him in his birthday suit. "I'm just doing you a favor." He stood there and Faye stared at his face, her eyes twitching violently as she forced herself not to look down. "Well, you can really do me a favor and get the hell out now. You've wasted all the hot water."

She brushed past Spike and slammed the door loudly. 

"What the hell was that noise? I don't want to have to make anymore new repairs." Jet raged, running to the hallway leading to the bathroom. He felt like he was a father to these people. He stopped short when he saw Spike standing in the middle of the hallway buck naked and wet with water.

"Care to explain?" Jet asked. 

Spike shook his head angrily and walked to his bedroom. "No. Ask the shrew woman. I'm going to sleep." 

***

__

'I almost got him,' Ed thought to herself as she typed with one hand. With her other hand she brought her goggles down over her eyes. 

"Yesss!" she cheered as her laptop beeped a few times, confirming that the search was almost complete. She stared intently at the screen, not even looking up as she heard Faye walk in the cockpit. 

"I think we almost got him, Faye," Ed said excitedly as the satellites traced Santo. 'Just a few more seconds...' And she was right. The tracer closed in somewhere near earth...

'That's where we are,' Ed thought to herself, but she quickly pushed the thought away as she heard Faye's footsteps directly behind her. She was about to turn around to address her, but she heard another beep on her laptop. She kept her eyes glued on the screen as her eyes furrowed together in a bit of confusion. 

"He's located.....on the Bebop-Bebop?" '

Realization dawned in on her and her heart dropped. How had he gotten past her security system? It was fail proof! Or so she thought. Just then, Ed remembered that somebody was standing in the same room as her.. 'Please be Faye, please be Faye, please be Faye,' Ed thought to herself frantically as she spun around. She wasn't really surprised when her eyes met the eyes of Santo Cortez and her mind filled with thoughts of the 87 others that he had kidnapped and killed. This was one time where she actually feared for her life. And like any other time where she was faced in a life and death situation, Ed's mind raced in a million different directions, trying to find a way out. But she came up short and just stared into those cold eyes. 

"Ho, ho, ho, Santa Cortez," she said when she couldn't think of anything else to do. 

His eyes narrowed and he reached out for her, shoving the damp napkin over her mouth. He held her small body against his and nearly suffocated her with his large hand. She flailed her arms out, trying to hit him somewhere, anywhere, but when it came to self-defense, she was the inexperienced cowgirl. 

Ed's punches seemed to die down as the anesthetic on the napkin began to take effect. 'You can't fall asleep!' Ed told herself as her eyes closed. She tried to force them open once again, but they fell back down drowsily. 'You can't leave Faye..."

"Faye-Faye!" Ed screamed as she shot awake. She looked around herself and saw that she was on a bed. Frantically, Ed jumped off the bed, but only fell face down on the floor. Her legs felt wobbly and weak, and her hands were cuffed to her back. Her face pressed against the floor and she groaned, turning herself on her back and she sighed, trying to gather the strength to stand up on her own two legs...but for some reason it seemed impossible. 

She heard a door open and a scurry of footsteps approach her. Ed's heart raced and she tried to move herself under the bed as best as she could, but she was only halfway through when she heard a deep chuckle from behind her. 

"I can see that you're awake and fully energized," a deep throaty voice croaked, dripping with a Puerto Rican accent. He reached down and grabbed Ed's legs, pulling her out from the bed. 

Ed's eyes widened as she realized that when he grabbed her ankles, she couldn't feel a thing. Her legs were totally numb. All her plans of trying to escape instantly flew out the window...how was she going to escape if she couldn't even walk? 

Santo seemed to read her mind. "That's right. Don't even think about escaping. It's completely hopeless." He picked up Ed and threw her back on the bed. "I've injected a sedative into your legs, immobilizing them...permanently."

Ed just smirked as she sat up on the bed. "Who says that I need my feet to get out of here? My friends'll rescue me."

Santo just smiled for a second. Then his smile turned into a giggle, then a psychotic cackle.

Ed's golden honey eyes turned dark and her smirk disappeared as she realized something must be wrong. 

"So sorry," Santo said as his cackle subsided. "But your friends are dead. I made sure of that."

"That's not true," Ed said simply. She didn't know how she knew, but they couldn't be dead. It's just one of those feelings...

"Ok. Believe what you want to believe. But I heard the explosion from the Bebop. They're history." Santo took out a wad of tobacco and put it in his mouth, chewing on it similar to how a cow chews on grass. He sat down on the bed next to her. Ed inched away from his disgusting form. "You know, you should be honored that I picked you," he said simply. 

"Honored?" Ed asked. "Yes. Thank you, Santo. You've made all my dreams come true."

Santo ignored her sarcasm and continued. "Well, you really should be. I only pick the good ones. The ones that I know are intelligent. And you, I must say, are by far the most intellectual one of the 87. And the most toughest. The other girls just cried and begged not to die. You're really a keeper." Santo paused. "It's such a shame that I have to kill you." He stood up and spit the tobacco on the floor. 

Ed didn't say anything. Instead, she concentrated on fiddling with her hand cuffs. There's always a weak link in handcuffs, no matter how high tech or fail safe they may seem. Santo didn't seem to notice.

"I bet you're hungry," he said suddenly and slapped his knee. "I'll get you something to eat." 

Ed was confused. First he kidnapped her, tried to kill her friends, is about to kill her, and here he was concerned that she was hungry? 

"Don't bother," Ed snapped. "I'll be gone by the time you come back. You can count on that." 

"Oh, really? And how will you accomplish that with useless legs? You gonna fly out?" 

Ed just grinned. "Magic." 

Santo cocked his eyebrow. "Whatever. I'll be back in an hour since you don't want any food. Don't go anywhere," he teased and he was gone. 

Ed waited a few seconds to see if he would return, and when he didn't, she relaxed and threw the handcuffs to the side of the bed. She rubbed her wrists a bit to ease the cramping, then reached into her pocket, pulling out a communicator linked directly to the Bebop. 

She pushed a few buttons and it turned on, dialing the Bebop's number.

***

Faye stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her torso and one wrapped around her head. She tiptoed to her room, letting the water drip to the floor. When she made it to her room, she slammed the door shut and began to dry herself off when she heard her communicator beep. She ignored it and ran the towel down her body until she was totally dry. She then dressed herself quickly. 

Her communicator beeped again.

"Just a second!" Faye said as if the communicator could actually understand her. 

It responded with another frantic beep. 

Growing irritated, Faye threw her towel down and grabbed the communicator, flipping it open. "What!" she shouted, her wet hair dripping on the small device. 

"Faye-Faye?" Ed asked. 

There as a pause. "Edward? Where are you? Are you ok?"

"I'm a-okay. But not for long. Santo-person took me and I can't move my legs. I can get out though. I just need the Bebop-Bebop to be here ready for me."

Faye tucked her hair behind her ears. "Well, where are you? I need to know."

Ed paused and looked outside the small window on Santo's ship. "Judging from the amount of asteroids and meteorites flying past us and the haziness in the atmosphere, I would say our coordinates are...say 1,005 degrees north and 1,500 degrees west."

"Care to explain that in English?" Faye deadpanned. 

"We're near Neptune," Ed said simply, looking back at the door. 

"How do you know your exact coordinates just by looking at asteroids and meteorites?" she wondered. 

"Because I'm staring at Neptune right now. Faye-Faye, stop asking silly questions. I need you here ASAP. Santo will be back here in an hour to check up on me. That's what he said."

"But Edward, the Bebop doesn't have turbo engines or anything. I don't think that we can make it to Neptune in an hour." Faye began biting her thumb nail, trying to find a solution.

Edward responded immediately. "But Spike's Swordfish has turbo engines. Jet just finished installing new ones. Tell Spike to come and get me."

Faye didn't say anything for a few seconds. She had an idea... Then she finally responded. "Ok, Ed," she said. "I'll tell Spike to come and get you."

She closed the communicator and put her headband into her wet hair. Faye grabbed a pen from her vanity desk and scribbled down a note, letting Jet know that she found out where Ed was and she was going to get her and not screw up this time. When she was finished with the note, she taped it on her door. Now it was time for the hard part...She walked out into the hallway and stood outside of Spike's door, holding her breath. Spike slept very light and she needed to be extra quiet if she didn't want to get caught. 

Faye opened the door slowly, but then suddenly stopped as the door creaked ever so annoyingly. Faye closed her eyes and waited for Spike wake up and yell at her. When he didn't even open an eye, Faye opened the door all the way and tip-toed past his sleeping form. She glanced at him and spotted the Swordfishes keys next to his nightstand. 

"Bingo," she whispered and reached out to grab the keys. Her slender fingers wrapped around the cool metal, but she pulled back empty-handed when she heard Spike turn around in his sleep. She held her breath and froze, afraid to move. He had turned so that she could see his face now.

When Spike's steady breathing resumed, Faye once again reached out for the keys and this time she clutched them into her hands. Her heart jumped, but she wasn't home free yet. She had to make it out of the room without waking him up. 

She was just about to turn around when she felt a tight grip around her wrist. She looked back and gasped. Spike had no expression on his face as he stared up at her. "What are you doing?" he asked with a monotone in his voice.

Faye didn't say anything. She relaxed for a second, gathering her energy, then with enormous strength that surprised them both, she wrenched her hand free and dashed out of his room. She closed the door behind her so that small delay can buy her a few valuable seconds. 

Spike was right behind her despite her long strides. She glanced back and saw him closing in on her. She ran faster, nearly crashing into Jet as she ran past him. 

"What the-?" Jet asked angrily as he stumbled back. He had left Ed's laptop for a few seconds to get something to eat. He ignored the two and sighed, walking back to the laptop and took a bite from the sandwich. It was beeping and something flashed across the screen. It said "SEARCH COMPLETE" in big bold letters. 

"Wait!" Jet yelled at the two, but they were already gone. 

"Faye, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Spike yelled, still chasing her as they weaved through the halls towards the hanger. He didn't even seem tired from running. 

Faye, on the other hand, was a bit out of shape despite her lean build. She was panting, but she still pressed on. The hanger was right there...all she needed to do was get there first and lock the door to keep him from getting in. 

She looked back at Spike who was right on her heels. He reached out to grab her, but she ducked out of his way and lunged forward into the hanger. The door opened and closed behind her. She quickly pressed the security numbers and she heard a click as it locked. She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. 

Half a second later, she heard a thud as Spike ran into the door, expecting for it to open for him. 

"Damn you, Faye!" she heard Spike say. He began pounding on the door. "You better not take my Swordfish or I swear that I'll put yours in auto pilot towards the sun."

His threat was ignored as she ran to his ship. 

She tried to open it, but was greeted with a computer animated voice. "Password please," it demanded. 

Faye thought for a second then she heard Spike laugh from the other side of the door. 

"You can open the door now and let me in. You'll never guess the-"

"Julia," Faye responded to the ship, cutting him off. The ship paused for a second and then the door opened for her. 

"Access granted," the voice said. "Have a nice day." 

Faye smirked as she started up his ship. He was just so predictable. 

"Faye!" Spike yelled, angry that he picked such an obvious password. "Come back!"

But Faye couldn't hear him yelling because she was already flying through space at thousands of miles an hour. It took a moment for her to adjust to the G forces tugging on her stomach and she thought she was going to throw up at first, but when the wave of nausea passed, she went even faster. 

She only had an hour...

A.N.: Hey, thanks for being patient with this chapter. I hope you guys like it. And thanks to all those loyal readers who already reviewed. You've been great. I'll get the next chapter out soon!


	5. Some things Never Change

Disclaimer: I don't own CB or anything. Don't sue me!  


Ed sat down on the bed, twirling her thumbs. A good 40 minutes had went by and Spike still hadn't shown up yet. She sighed and laid back, tossing the handcuffs in the air and catching them. She started to get some feeling back into her legs and she could even make them sway a little if she tried hard enough, but it still wasn't a whole lot. Santo had said that her legs were paralyzed permanently. She didn't know what to think of that. She would definitely miss walking if that were the case, but there are other means of getting around in the universe. And there are so many new medicines and cures now-a-days. She'd most likely be cured one way or another...

Ed heard something outside and she lifted her body with her arms to peek out the window. She saw Spike's Swordfish hovering outside of the large ship she was captured in. Santo's ship was almost as big as the Bebop, but the Bebop had a lot more accessories provided by Jet's mechanical abilities. This guy probably didn't know the first thing about taking care of a ship as big as his...

Ed used her upper body strength to lift herself to the window and she peered at the Swordfish. She was still kind of afraid of Spike, but she needed him to help her now. She wasn't going to be stubborn like Faye and refuse his offers to help. Ed knew her limits and wasn't really embarrassed or afraid to admit them. 

Ed's communicator rang. She looked down from her perch and grabbed it. "Spike-person?" she asked. 

"It's Faye," came the response. "I'm right next to the ship, but I can't find a place to board...do you think you can somehow open up?"

Ed thought for a second and nodded. "I'll try my best. My legs are paralyzed, but you can count on me!" Then with that, she hung up the communicator. 

Ed lowered herself from the window and let her legs hang over the side of the bed. She placed them on the ground and gently lifted herself onto them. She felt a slight tingle ripple through her body, as if her legs were just asleep, but she fell to the floor. Her legs were unable to support her weight. 

"That's ok," she muttered, encouraging herself a bit so she wouldn't become discouraged. "I don't like walking on my feet that much anyways." Instead, she leaned forward on the ground and lifted her body with her hands. With incredible balance and strength, she maneuvered herself to the door. It was the kind that used sensors and it should have swooshed open when she came close enough. Instead, it stayed put. 

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I guess he was worried that I really might escape, Ed thought. _Too bad he didn't know I'm a hacker..._

Ed struggled to lift her left foot toward the password entry database. It was located by the door and looked very much like a home security device. It took her a few minutes to lift her leg high enough to gain access to the keys, but she did it. Ed bit her bottom lip and using her toe, she punched in a few letters. She wasn't totally sure that she had actually touched the small keyboard until a buzzer denied her access. She thought for a second and lowered herself to the floor. 

__

What's his pride and joy? she thought to herself..._I have no idea. Maybe I'll give this a try..._

She lifted herself again with her arms and brought her foot close to the small buttons. She glanced up and struggled to keep her balance. She watched her big toe outstretch though she very well couldn't feel it, and punched in _87_ and paused, waiting for the buzzer to ring out, denying her access again. 

Instead, a small beep was heard and the door swooshed open.

"Ha!" Ed cheered. "That was too easy." She looked down both hallways before moving into the main corridor. She had no idea where she was going, but she took a chance and headed left. Moving swiftly, Ed carried herself down the hall, but came to a stop when she saw a door...

As slowly and as steadily as she could, she peered through the door. Santo was sitting on his recliner and his head was thrown to the side. The remote to the television was in his hand and he had some Doritos all over his chest. He was fast asleep. 

Ed grinned and moved herself past the door. There was another door down the hall, but it was much larger than all the other doors. It must have led to the hanger. 

Finally, Ed made it all the way down the hall and she stood on her hands right next to the hanger. The door swooshed open, saving her valuable time. The ship that Santo had captured her in was parked. She moved her right hand forward and placed it on the ground to support her weight. She felt something cut into her hand and instinctively pulled back, forgetting that it was her arms that were holding her up. She toppled to the side and groaned loudly. When she glanced down, she could see millions of small shards of glass everywhere.

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'There's no way I can get past that with just my hands!' Ed thought to herself. She took a deep breath and stared at her right hand. Bits and pieces of glass embedded themselves into her palm. She used her other hand to try and pick them out, but something else distracted her...she held her breath as she heard something come from the room Santo was in. There it was again!

Ed could hear Santo's recliner squeak as he lowered his feet to the ground. Her heart began to race as she frantically looked around the hangar for some place to hide. Some place where she wouldn't have to cross the glass...she lifted herself on her hands again and carefully moved herself behind a workbench near the entrance and near the latch that opened up the door to space. She waited patiently. 

Santo groaned and stretched as he walked out of the living area. There were some footsteps, then she heard a zip...

Then a sigh as Santo relieved himself in the bathroom. Ed scrunched up her nose as she heard a plop a few times in the toilet. She suppressed a giggle when she heard the toilet flush.

Leave it to Ed to make the best out of a sticky situation...

Once again, she could hear Santo's heavy footsteps. They were fading however and she could only guess that he went to go check up on her.

All of a sudden, Ed's communicator rang.

Ed squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. She reached into her pocket and hung it up. She was so close to freedom to have it all taken away from her now...

Santo stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. _There's no way she could of..._ he thought to himself. Still to be safe, Santo walked to the hangar where he heard a ringing. 

He walked into the hangar and looked around the brightly lit room, trying to see if he could spot an orange haired kid. 

Ed held her breath as Santo took a step forward. She was hunched right next to him behind his workbench. She pressed herself closer to the ground.

Santo shook his head and chuckled. "She's not _that_ smart," he muttered. "Nobody could have gotten out of that room let alone a kid." He turned to leave.

All of a sudden, Ed's communicator rang again. 

Ed's heart raced as Santo spun around, looking in the direction of where it came from. Her veins were coursing with adrenaline and she slowly lifted herself up to peek at Santo as he walked in the opposite direction of her hiding spot.

It was a good thing she slid her communicator across the length of the hangar, leading him away from her....

When he was far enough away, Ed stretched her arm up and grabbed the latch that opened up the hangar so Faye could board his large ship. She easily pulled it down and there was a creak and groan from the large door. It slowly opened up and Santo snapped his head towards Ed. She looked at him and smiled sweetly. "Got-cha," Ed sang. 

Faye brought the Swordfish down in low enough so that she could get inside. She thought of impaling Santo with a round of bullets and had her hand right on the trigger, but the idea was pushed to the back of her head as Santo sprinted at Ed, taking her into his arms. He pulled out a gun and held it at Ed's head. 

"Ed!" Faye cried out. She was totally helpless. _Do something!!!!!!!! _Faye's mind screamed as her hand hovered over the trigger. _Should I kill him or not? As much as I hate to say it, I wish Spike was here. He knows what to do all the time...._

"Get off, you meanie!" Ed squealed. She fought against him, but he only held tighter and shifted the gun, shoving it under her chin. Ed stopped fighting back, but she still yelled out at him. 

Faye closed her eyes and clenched her hand into a fist. She was not going to screw this up again. Not this time when Ed was concerned. That spaghetti like child was practically family. She couldn't let anything happen to her. 

"I suggest you leave right now or the kid gets a bullet in her teeth!" Santo yelled, placing his finger over the trigger so show Faye that he wasn't kidding. 

Faye looked at Ed and frowned. She had no idea what to do...try and kill him before he had a chance to kill Ed? Or leave right now where she knew that he would kill Ed once she left. Her head and her heart tugged her into different directions. 

Ed glanced down at her leg and wiggled it. There was definitely more feeling this time and she could move it a bit more. Maybe she could...

Ed glanced up at Faye, catching her eye. She cocked her head to the side and mouthed the words 'shoot.'

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Huh? Faye thought. _What's she saying?_ She stared at Ed and shook her head confused. 

Ed looked up at Santo who didn't seem to notice their silent communication. She lifted her left hand slightly and imitated a gun. She pointed it at Santo's side and Faye smiled, finally understanding. 

Still using her hand, Ed raised one finger. Then a second one. And on the third finger, Ed held her breath and ignored the stinging pain in her legs. She used everything she had to lift her leg straight up, landing a kick on Santo's forehead. 

Santo yelled and stumbled backwards, dropping his gun and clutching his head. He let Ed go and she sank to the ground.

Moving quickly, Ed lifted her body onto her arms and moved out of the way so Faye could get a clear shot of Santo. 

Without wasting another second, Faye shot out at Santo, a bullet grazing his skin. He jumped back and ran for cover behind his work station. He touched his shoulder gingerly to see how far the bullet hurt him. He smiled as he saw a stream of blood run down his arm. Blood made his lust for death even more strong. 

"You're never going to get me," Santo cackled. He started backing away, towards the door. 

Ed scurried towards Faye as quickly as she could. Though it looked as if Santo wasn't even paying attention to her anymore, he was still a big threat. 

"That's what you think," a gruff voice growled from behind Santo. 

"Wha-?" Santo questioned. He spun around to come face to face with a green haired bounty hunter with a gun in his hand, a gleam of heartlessness in his eye. Santo glared at the man for a second, then looked back at his victim. She was now with Faye, safe in the tight vessel. His rage grew. "How'd you get here!?" 

Spike shrugged his shoulders. "It's amazing how fast a ship can go when a defenseless little kid's life is on the line."

Santo glared daggers at him. "Well If I can't have her!" he yelled into the think air, pulling out a glass bottle and raising it to his mouth. "Then you can't have me." He took a long swig of the clear liquid and threw the bottle to the ground, the glass shattering and him panting heavily. 

"What the hell was that!?" Faye yelled at Spike from her ship. 

Spike shrugged his shoulders, but didn't lower his gun. The only thing he knew was that it wasn't good. 

"That," Santo said, still breathing heavily. "Was Cyanide. The fastest working poison known to man." He looked at his watch and grinned. "I'll be dead in a matter of minutes." The gleam in his eyes were pure evil.

Spike felt his anger grow. "I don't think I can wait that long," he muttered. He aimed his gun at Santo's head and pulled the trigger. 

***

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A Few Weeks Later

"Hey, Jet, Spike-person and Faye-Faye!" Edward sang as she walked into the living area on her hands. 

Jet rolled his eyes. "You know, Edward, you're cured now. You can walk on your own two feet."

Ed rolled her eyes back at him. "But that's sooo boring!"

Faye sighed and clutched her stomach as it growled. "I really wish that we would have gotten that bounty. We really need some money for food."

Spike crossed his leg over his left knee and shrugged. "Well, we could have gotten the bounty if you didn't leave all of a sudden. Jet received the message that Ed was on Neptune at about the same time you did. There was no reason for you to go out there alone."

Faye felt her eye twitch. "So now it's my fault that we didn't get the bounty? Last I remembered, Santo downed a shot of Cyanide, killing himself."

"Uh-uh!" Ed said as she concentrated on balancing herself on one hand. "Santo-person downed a shot of 7-up-up-up!" 

The Bebop crew snapped their heads at Ed. 

"What was that?" Spike asked. 

"Santo wasn't trying to kill himself!? He tricked us?" Jet bellowed. He glared at Spike. 

Spike sweatdropped as he realized his mistake. If he hadn't shot Santo when he did, they could have realized that he was faking and they could have taken him in for the money on his head. 

"My bad," Spike said and scratched the back of his head.

Faye smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. "What were you saying about me screwing up the bounty?" Faye pressed. She knew exactly how to press his buttons. 

Spike glared at her. "Now, shrew woman, just because I messed up this one time doesn't mean that all the times you screwed up are erased. You're still the queen of screw ups."

"Yeah, well with all the times I screwed up, I never cost us a bounty that big." Faye continued smiling. For some reason, that smile was killing Spike. It irked him in every way possible. Even though all the past fights they had together were forgotten and they were just doing some friendly teasing now...

Jet raised his eyes. "You know, Spike. She's right about that one. She never cost us that big of a bounty."

"But Jet!" Spike interjected, pointing a finger at Faye like a first grader. "She made me do it!"

Some things will never change....

A.N.: Hey, this is the last chapter of my fic. Sorry that it took such a long time to get it posted and that it's so short, but I had lots of volleyball games and football games to play at (in the band) and a whole bunch of other things going on this week. Hope ya'll enjoyed it. Sorry for the crappy ending. Couldn't think of a different way to do it. If anybody wants to, they can actually make a part 2 to this if they want. I don't care. That's only if you feel like you have come good ideas to continue. I'm not making this into a challenge or a contest or anything. 

Oh and to Strife21, you predicted Ed's whole walking-on-the-hands thing. I couldn't believe it. I started writing the 5th chapter right after I posted the fourth a while ago and then all of a sudden the next day I see a review saying that Ed could walk on her hands. I was just like "This person must be a mind-reader!"

Just thought I'd share that little thought with ya. Thanks to all the readers. *wipes tear from eye* Ya'll have been great and patient. 


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